Odhiambo, 41, is in the Guinness book for dribbling six basketballs simultaneously (set on Aug. 15, 2000, at his home in Mesa, Arizona), spinning a basketball on the tip of his finger for four hours and 15 minutes and bouncing a basketball for 26 hours and 40 minutes (the last two feats were accomplished during the National Basketball Association All-Star Weekend in Houston last February).
It’s not easy to break into the Guinness book. A representative from the Guinness headquarters in London must witness the record-breaking event to test, verify and confirm the feat beyond a shadow of a doubt.
PurePlay’s Leslie Suntay, whose brother Anthony is a popular sportscaster, said a Guinness representative will fly in to witness the assault on Odhiambo’s dribbling record.
Suntay said he’s confident the record will be broken.
So far, PurePlay has organized two elimination legs to find the 100 qualifiers for the Astig Revicon Guinness Dribbling Challenge finals where the best finisher gets to take home P250,000 and an additional P250,000 if he smashes Odhiambo’s record.
The first leg was held in Davao where 15 dribblers qualified for the finals. The second leg was held at the Olympic Badminton Club on Rodriguez Avenue last Saturday and 55 qualifiers were chosen. The next leg for 15 more qualifiers is set at the University of Pangasinan on Oct. 14 and the final leg for the last 15 qualifiers is scheduled at the University of San Carlos, Cebu, on Oct. 15.
Suntay said there will be a five-minute break for every hour of continuous dribbling. Breaks may be accumulated so that if a dribbler puts the ball on the floor for four hours straight, he earns 20 minutes of rest. Guinness set the guidelines for the breaks.
"Yes, the Filipino can do it," said Suntay. "We’ve received many calls from as far as Iloilo claiming many have surpassed 27 hours of continuous dribbling, using Guinness guidelines, in preparation for the eliminations. Beating a record of almost 27 hours of dribbling is extremely difficult but I truly think if there is someone who can beat the existing record, it’s a Filipino. Let’s not only beat the record by a couple of minutes, let’s beat the record by a mile."
Odhiambo, a Nairobi native, was inspired by trick artist Tanya Crevier during a camp in Prescott, Arizona, and has been entertaining fans with his basketball wizardry for nearly seven years.
The previous records for Odhiambo’s feats were dribbling five basketballs at the same time, spinning a basketball on the tip of a finger for three hours and 59 seconds and bouncing a basketball for 24 hours straight.
Odhiambo has performed with the Harlem Globetrotters and is a regular entertainer with the Phoenix Suns. He is also a much sought after motivational speaker who travels all over the US to talk to athletes from high schools to the professional ranks on how to succeed through practice.
"My faith, persistence, patience and hard work put me over the top," said Odhiambo who played for Grand Canyon University in Phoenix and is a substitute teacher with the Alhambra School District.
On a particular routine, he would practice for five to six months at an average of six hours a day, starting in the morning at 9. He would view the tape of his morning practice during lunch then resume practice at 2 p.m. After a break for dinner, he would continue practicing from 7 to 9 p.m.
"In the morning, I practice dribbling, afternoon juggling and evening spinning," the 6-3, 200-pound former high school discus thrower and shot putter said, quoted by Judy Hedding in the Phoenix Guide. "Starting with one basketball, I work my way to four basketballs in dribbling and juggling and 10 basketballs in spinning. Since then, I have pushed the dribbling to six basketballs, juggling to five and spinning to 24 basketballs."
Odhiambo is now practicing to establish the Guinness World Record for juggling three basketballs while making 37 layups in one minute.
"A lot of people think that one must have special talent to excel in whatever they choose to do," continued Odhiambo in the Phoenix Guide. "Special talent can only take someone so far. Beyond that, one must develop skills to complement or supplement the talent to be successful. Also, it takes more than just regular practice to become good. A person without a story about where they have come from and where they are heading are wandering in a circle without an end."
Odhiambo has launched two advocacy programs. One is called REACH for the Stars where he visits schools to talk about Respect, Education, Attitude, Commitment and Hard Work. And the other is the Know Tobacco program where he discusses the dangers of smoking.
Odhiambo, a graduate of computer science and math, has developed over 300 tricks using up to 24 basketballs. So if his continuous dribbling record is broken by a Filipino, the Kenyan shouldn’t be too worried. He has a lot more tricks up his sleeve to set and break Guinness World Records.